


Gravity

by RandyKorn



Category: Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: Alive Noah, College AU, I know nothing about skateboarding but neither does Henry so it's fine, M/M, Meet-Cute, POV Henry, trans Noah if you squint
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-05
Updated: 2019-01-05
Packaged: 2019-10-04 12:21:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,935
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17304536
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RandyKorn/pseuds/RandyKorn
Summary: It's been almost two years since Henry first laid eyes on the beyond-cute skater boy, and he's been desperately trying to meet him ever since.  It's a shame Henry has to almost die to make it happen.





	Gravity

**Author's Note:**

  * For [tinyarmedtrex](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tinyarmedtrex/gifts).



> Content warnings: a little cursing and some light descriptions of injuries.
> 
> Thanks to my pals Izzy @izzylizardborn and Ashley for betaing :D

Henry raised his hand to the pristine autumn sky, a single finger extended high and proud.Flipping off fate in the middle of the quad may have been overdramatic, even for him, but he felt it was due after nearly two years of being denied his heart’s desire.

Namely: the beyond-adorable boy currently skating by on the edge of campus, far out of earshot.The only distinguishing features at this distance were his mop of blonde hair and his Hello Kitty backpack, but that combined with the skateboard under his feet made him easy enough to identify.

Henry lowered his arm and continued on his ambling walk back to his dorm room, wondering why the world was so against him and this mysterious boy meeting.

It wasn’t as though Henry hadn’t put in the effort.He had, frankly, put in an absurd amount of effort.But the universe seemed determined to deny him the simple pleasures in life, and Henry was growing quite tired of it.

The first time he’d laid eyes upon the boy, he had been stuck in the ice-breaker hell that was freshman orientation.The lucky bastard had arrived late, strolling through the quad with hissignature backpack slung over one shoulder and a sticker-encrusted skateboard tucked under one arm, freshly baked cookies held out in the other as an apology for missing the first half of the day.His mocha-brown eyes had landed on Henry for a moment, sun-kissed face breaking into a wide smile that sent Henry’s heart pounding.Mystery Boy then slipped into a nearby group like it was nothing, like he hadn’t just rocked Henry’s newly college-minted mind. 

Now, Henry wasn’t one to put faith in love at first sight.Horniness at first sight, yes, but love?It wasn’t like he wanted to have a small, intimate wedding, purchase an adorable cottage on the mountainside, and sire three children with him before growing old and decrepit together.It wasn’t like he’d put any thought into this at all.

He wanted to be friends.Just friends.

The marriage and children could come in due time.

Henry wasn’t even sure why he’d been so instantly infatuated, but something about Mystery Boy had snagged his attention, some invisible attractive force that he hadn’t yet been able to push aside.

Maybe it was the smudge of paint on his cheek that hinted at an artistic side.

Maybe it was the cookies - a boy who could bake was undeniably attractive.

Maybe it was the Hello Kitty backpack that spoke of someone who didn’t give a lick for what others thought of his choices.

Maybe it was simply the skateboard and the ripped, soft-punk clothing.Henry had always been a sucker for boys with a well-defined aesthetic.

Regardless of the reasons, Henry had known at that moment that he was tragically, desperately crushing on Mystery Boy.

Unfortunately for him, he had been held captive by social conventions and was unable to bring himself to eschew his own assigned group for Mystery Boy’s far more enticing one.A pity, too, since his group had disbanded a full fifteen minutes later than Mystery Boy’s, and by the time he was free, his crush was long gone. 

Since then, their near-misses had become increasingly ridiculous.

They had started out simple - catching a glimpse of Mystery Boy’s back as he sprinted to make it to his exam on time, spying him walking just outside the classroom window while Henry was stuck in the middle of a lecture, hearing Mystery Boy laugh as he passed through the atrium three floors below.

Then.Then things started getting weird enough that Henry was positive the universe was fucking with him on a deeply personal level.

At the end of spring semester of his freshman year, he’d been headed to his math final when he’d spied the boy skating a block or so ahead, large headphones over his ears that blocked Henry’s friendly calls.Henry had immediately given up all sense of dignity, taking off down the sidewalk after him.It wasn’t until he was forced to stop a full fifteen minutes later, exhausted and legitimately concerned that he may be dying, that he realized he was both sorely out of shape and horrendously late for his math final.Mystery Boy had continued on his merry way, unconcerned and unaware as Henry collapsed on the grass behind him, stuck in the middle of an epiphany about just how _stupid_ he got at the thought of love.

The following autumn, their college had struck a deal with a local farm and gotten them a discounted rate for the massive corn maze.Henry had, of course, gone, dragging his dear friends along with him.It wasn’t until night had fallen and they had lost all sense of direction that Henry heard Mystery Boy laughing only a bit ahead of him.He had abandoned Adam and Gansey to bicker about which method was more ethically sound for cheating on a corn maze - navigating by stars, or using a compass - and followed Mystery Boy’s voice for what felt like miles, often cutting through the corn stalks to try and reach him.That night, Henry had managed to find two couples having sex in the corn, three terrifying spiders in his jacket, Adam and Gansey sucking face in the corn, and, eventually, the exit.Mystery Boy, however, had remained stubbornly out of sight.

Then, only a few short weeks ago, Henry had attended the college’s spring performance of _Romeo and Juliet._ He’d felt somewhat obligated to attend given that he was vice president of the theatre club, but he mostly felt that he owed it to Blue and Ronan to see their costumes and sets in action.Between the clubgoers and his friends’ bitching, he felt he knew just about everything about this version of Shakespeare’s famous tragedy.So imagine his surprise when Mystery Boy himself had strutted out onto the stage and given the best performance as Mercutio that Henry had ever seen - and he’d seen _R &J_ performed at the Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre itself.Henry had impatiently waited until final curtain before vaulting over the pit and diving backstage, determined to catch Mystery Boy before he managed to slip away.He’d been ready for the happy hubbub that came after a successful show, but instead he’d been greeted with confused gossip huddles, Mystery Boy nowhere to be seen.Henry slowly managed to piece together the story, all the while feeling like he’d missed out on the best opportunity he was likely to ever get.

Apparently Mystery Mercutio had appeared in the nick of time to save the show after the main actor and understudy had both tragically taken ill after a nasty run-in with D Hall’s meatloaf.The stage manager hadn’t asked any questions after Mystery Boy said that he knew the part, instead deciding to just shove him into costume and hope for the best.And the best had happened.But sometime after the final bow, Mystery Boy had managed to escape an entire theatre full of insatiably curious actors and crew members without anyone seeing him change out of costume or leave.As far as Henry could tell, the play was by far Mystery Boy’s most public appearance on campus, and he’d somehow managed to go through the entire performance without a single person learning a bit of personal information about him.

That moment convinced him that they were star-crossed lovers of Shakespearian proportions.

Henry still didn’t even know the boy’s name.

It wasn’t like he hadn’t put effort into this simple pursuit, either.He’d asked everyone he was even mildly acquainted with, and while everyone seemed to know _of_ the cute Hello Kitty Skater Boy, frustratingly few people, if anyone at all, seemed to actually _know_ him. 

On five separate occasions, Henry had tried to sneak emails past the school’s filters to bombard the entire student body with his fateful quest, but that method had yet to succeed.For about six months straight, he’d taken out daily ads on all of the local radio stations begging for information.One time he’d hired a skywriter. 

Hell, he’d even plastered flyers all over campus with the only photo he had - a blurry action shot that Blue had managed to capture while out doing her photography homework.The flyers had been captioned with the sexy phrase “I know this is creepy but you’re real cute please call me” with Henry’s cell number.

He’d received an incredible number of dick pics, but fortunately none of them had belonged to his Mystery Boy.Henry had hope that he would have more class than that.

Henry sighed, scanning his student ID and letting himself into his dorm building.After two long years of ridiculous schemes, it was time to face the facts.

He was crushing on the campus cryptid.

 

* * *

  

Henry yelped as he clung to his tenuous sense of balance, the death trap of a transportation device bouncing precariously beneath him, threatening to spill him onto the sidewalk at any moment.

_If you can’t find ‘em, join ‘em._ Ronan’s sarcastic words echoed through his ears as Henry careened through the quad.He’d thought it was a brilliant idea at the time - surely he could join whatever skater boy sect of the school his immensely friendly demeanor had yet to penetrate, and then he could finally, _finally_ find his Mystery Boy.

Now he was just glad he’d chosen to start this insane endeavor at the ungodly hour of 7am, when the vast majority of the student body was still dead to the world in their dorms.The fewer bodies on the sidewalk for him to crash into, the better.

Especially considering he had yet to learn how to successfully brake.

Ronan, who used to skate in middle school, insisted that it was all intuitive.Henry, who was currently on his third excursion and could still barely manage a straight line, thoroughly disagreed.

His first two attempts had been fairly low-key, simply scooting back and forth on the flat section of sidewalk in front of his dorm.Every time he’d needed to stop, he’d launched himself into patches of grass and chased after his skateboard after he’d recovered.It wasn’t the best method, but it did get the job done.

Two of his favorite shirts were now irreparably ruined and he sported a wicked bruise on his forearm.While he’d initially been upset about the situation, he now had to admit that he felt a little badass with the dark purple blotch marring his otherwise perfect skin.The battle scar added intrigue to his look, turned him from a beauty into more of a bad boy.He could get behind that.

Last night, he’d made a point to look up how to stop a skateboard properly, so he was feeling confident enough to try and ride over to the D-Hall for an early morning breakfast.It was a straight shot across campus, so he figured that all he had to do was get properly lined up and _go._ Maybe he could get a little wild and try to learn how to do that cool weaving thing he’d seen Mystery Boy do.

It would be an easy ride, and he picked up speed as he gained confidence.No one was out this early, and he felt free with the wind flowing around him.It felt like flying, and he could almost see where this would be enjoyable if he got the hang of it.

Then, he realized the horizon had tilted away in front of him, and his stomach fell along with it.The hill.He’d forgotten about the hill.

_I know how to brake,_ he thought. _In theory._

He tried to keep that in mind as the slope steepened precariously downward.With his speed increasing by the second, he wondered when fate had shifted from wanting him miserable to wanting him dead.

“Oh man, oh man, oh man,” he muttered, crouching down to try and lower his center of gravity.The youtube tutorials he’d watched claimed it helped with balance, but it just made him feel both unsteady and ridiculous.“You can do this, you’ve got this.Don’t fuck up now, Cheng.”

The board convulsed beneath him, the vibrations traveling up his spine and turning his insides to jelly.His heart pounded in his throat as he focused his entire being on staying upright. _Don’t scream,_ he told himself sternly, searching the path ahead for obstructions or unwitting pedestrians.A brief, wordless pang of thanks was sent to whatever god was paying attention for making him do this so early in the morning - the way was still clear.At least he wouldn’t kill anyone else with this stunt.

The tutorial he’d watched claimed that jamming your foot flat into the ground was an effective braking method, but even he could tell that was a recipe for disaster at this speed.Lacking any safe methods, he made a snap decision to just ride it out and try not to die.

“Excelsior!” he yelled, throwing one fist bravely in the air as he rocketed down the hill, figuring that if he was going to perish, his last word could at least be quoting Gansey’s dorky motto.

Plus, it kept him from wordlessly screaming into the void.

About halfway down the hill, he started to relax a bit. _Maybe I can do this,_ he thought, an edge of caution to the words. _It isn’t terrible.It’s almost fun!_

That was when he hit the bump.

It was a small thing - the sidewalk tile shifting with age, tilting upward toward the sky.Campus facilities had painted the edge in a fluorescent yellow to warn pedestrians of the tripping hazard.Unfortunately, at the speed Henry was going, the visual warning was utterly lost on him.

One moment he’d been speeding down the hill.

The next, he was floating.

The sky was open and welcoming above him, encompassing his entire vision for just an instant.The cloudless, serene cerulean was an instant of calm even as the dread shot of adrenaline surged through him, his body knowing what was coming even if his mind had yet to catch up.

Gravity kicked in.

Henry hit the ground.

He rolled, bounced, skid down the hill, some intuitive part of him moving to protect his head with his arms.Each flash of pain merged together into an impossible jumble, making his mind spin long after he’d come to rest.

The sky filled his vision once again, and he groaned miserably at it.The birds chirping cheerfully in the trees sounded distinctly mocking to him, and he stuck his tongue out in their general direction, which served the dual purpose of reassuring him that his tongue was still intact. 

Henry quickly took stock of his body, testing out his toes and moving his way up to his head before he dared to breathe easy.There were plenty of sore spots, but he seemed to have hit the grass early in his fall.Most of the damage amounted to bruises and scrapes, which was a far cry from the broken bones or concussion he’d been fearing.The stinging and throbbing pulsing through his body didn’t make him feel particularly grateful, though.

“I am slain!” he declared, raising a specific, sore finger into the air.If it happened to be toward the birds, well, no one else would know.“I give up!Do you hear me, fate?You have defeated Henry Cheng at last.I am the Icarus who survived his fall long enough to learn his lesson.I surrender my quest for the sun.”

He felt a loss in that moment, a gaping void in his sense of self.He’d been chasing Mystery Boy for his entire time at college.Who _was_ he without this quest?Just some charismatic kid with a great fashion sense.There would be nothing particularly special about him, nothing quirky to lubricate the conversation at dull parties, nothing to occupy his thoughts during endless lectures.

But it had also led him missing finals, missing valuable time with his friends, missing sleep and parties and meals.He’d missed out on College Life in his search for Mystery Boy, and where had it led him?Not to a fascinating new friendship (and maybe something more) and an awesome story, but to him yelling in vain at the sky while lying bruised and broken in the grass.Between the dirt, the bloodied cuts, and the holes, his clothes were ruined.Henry couldn’t help thinking about how much worse it could have been, how easily he could have ended up with casts and crutches and stitches.As it was, he probably needed medical attention.Parrish could help - he always seemed to know how to patch up Lynch after one of his scuffles. 

Any decision that led Henry to being at all similar to that side of Lynch was a decidedly bad decision.

To top it all off, he had no idea where his skateboard had ended up.

Frustrated tears welled in the corners of his eyes, but he firmly told himself that this was for the best.Maybe now he would live to the legal American drinking age.Maybe he’d even graduate college.

Even if it meant he wouldn’t be able to reach those milestones with Mystery Boy by his side.

“Hey!Hey, dude yelling at the sky!Is this yours?”

Henry flopped his head to the side, blinking through his tears to see a smudge of a boy standing at the bottom of the hill.He was holding up a board.Henry’s board.And the boy looked eerily familiar.

Lumpy hoodie.Ripped jeans.Scuffed up Vans.Floppy blonde hair, dimpled smile, smudge on his cheek.A hint of pink peeking out from behind his shoulders.

Mystery Boy.

Right there, only a dozen meters away.Talking to him.Or trying to, anyway.

Henry sat up so fast his head spun, and he slammed his eyes shut to try and quell the sudden nausea that surged within him.It would be just his luck to have him finally meet Mystery Boy the moment after giving up on his quest, only to have him flee in disgust when Henry puked up last night’s dinner all over himself.What a lovely first impression.

He blinked tentatively, heartened when the world no longer see-sawed in front of him.When he looked down the hill, Mystery Boy was still standing there, Henry’s skateboard held aloft.Good.It probably wasn’t an illusion brought on by a concussion, then.

Little details jumped out at Henry, painting an unfortunate picture.Dirt streaks on Mystery Boy’s jeans, a twig sticking out of his hair, small spot of red poking through the grey material of his hoodie.

“Oh, shit,” Henry said, likely too quiet for the other boy to hear.Then, louder, “Did you trip over my board?”

“What are the odds, right?” Mystery Boy asked, laughing and lowering Henry’s board to the ground, leaning against it like a cane.“Two crashes for the price of one.Your board came out of nowhere, man.”

“Sorry!” he called, struggling into a standing position.His knees sparked with pain, and Henry could feel fresh blood well up as he stumbled down the hill.

“You okay?” Mystery Boy asked, watching worriedly as Henry limped down toward him.“That must have been a gnarly fall.”

Henry stopped dead, momentarily at a loss for words.He’d imagined this moment for years, played it over in his head a thousand times, in a thousand different ways, and never had he imagined the illustrious Mystery Boy to use, of all words-

_“Gnarly?”_

Mystery Boy pouted, puffing his cheeks out in a way that made Henry’s stomach flip.“People still say gnarly,” he said, sounding like he’d made this argument many times before to no avail.“It’s still a thing.”

“It’s really not,” Henry said, trying not to sound unkind. 

Thankfully, he didn’t seem offended, only rolling his eyes before looking at Henry more closely as he stepped closer.“You’re bleeding,” Mystery Boy said, pointing to a large scrape on Henry’s forearm before digging around in his pocket.“Here.“He held up a Hello Kitty bandaid that was far too small for any one of Henry’s wounds, let alone the wound in question, and Mystery Boy’s helpful expression fell into disappointment.“Ah,” he said.“Well.”

“No,” Henry said reaching out and taking the bandaid, unwrapping it and searching for somewhere useful to stick it.Mystery Boy may have looked adorable when he was sad, but that didn’t mean that Henry liked it.“Here.”Without thinking, he pressed the bandaid to Mystery Boy’s cheek, sticking it over a small cut that was barely even bleeding.

He froze there, fingertips mere millimeters from Mystery Boy’s face, their gazes locked in mutual surprise.Henry could feel the tips of his ears redden as his face heated up, and he quickly withdrew his hands, jamming them into his pockets. 

“Thanks,” Mystery Boy said, touching the bandaid, his cheeks growing pinker underneath.

“You’re, uh, welcome,” Henry mumbled, watching as Mystery Boy lowered his hand to his side.They stared at each other for a beat before Henry stuck his hand out.“I’m Henry.”

Mystery Boy smiled, his hand warm and calloused around Henry’s.

“Noah.”

_“Noah,”_ Henry repeated reverently.He’d run through thousands of names over the years with his friends, placing meaningless bets on what Mystery Boy’s true name was.They each had their own preferences, but Henry had never settled for a favorite.Now, he was glad he hadn’t.Noah’s true name fit that much easier without having to displace a fake name in Henry’s mind.He smiled.“It suits you.”

“Thanks,” Noah said, grinning cheekily.“I picked it out myself.”It was the kind of joke that struck Henry as having a deeper meaning, something that hinted at a core component of Noah himself.But they’d only known each other for a few minutes, and as much as Henry wanted to pry, he forced himself to quell the question.There would be time enough to get to know Noah on a deeper level.Hopefully.

“Seriously, though,” Noah continued after a beat of silence, “you okay?”

Henry shrugged, trying to appear macho as he ignored the sparks of pain that the movement caused.“I’m alive,” he said.“I think.”

It struck him that this could all be a dream.He could be lying on the pavement above with his head split open, hallucinating all of this.This was exactly what his heart’s desire had been when he’d crashed, this was exactly what his bruised mind would have conjured up. 

But that was stupid.Henry’s dreamscape would have had Noah carrying him off into the sunset while doing sick skateboard flips, not having them make awkward small talk while he struggled to remember the basics of flirting.

“Have you been skating long?” Noah asked.“This is the first time I’ve seen you on a board, although I admittedly haven’t been around the scene much recently.”

Henry snorted.“My life on a skateboard began three days ago, and I’m pretty sure it ended approximately five minutes ago.”

Laughter bubbled out of Noah, the sound popping in Henry’s chest in a decidedly pleasant way.“Oh, you’re a newbie!Why aren’t you wearing pads?”

“I am not the brightest.”

“Was that your first hill?” Noah asked.“It’s good you started off small, especially because you’re not even wearing a helmet.”

_“Small?”_ Henry said, turning and pointing as dramatically as he knew how.“That is _not_ small.It’s a mountain.”

“Uh-huh,” Noah said, a bemused look on his face.“Mount Everest, that one is.”

“Listen.”Henry was the one pouting now, putting his stinging hands on his hips.“I almost _died-“_

“Because you’re a newbie not wearing any pads-“

“-and while I briefly enjoyed the rush, I just don’t think this whole skating lifestyle is for me.I feel queasy just thinking about doing that again.”

“To be fair, if you survived that massive hill, you can survive pretty much anything on your board,” he said, eyes sparkling as he handed the death-trap-in-question back.

“That may be true,” Henry said, ignoring the heavy sarcasm and immediately laying the board at his feet so he wouldn’t have to look at it.“But that doesn’t mean I _want_ to.I mean, look at me,” he said, gesturing dramatically at his rumpled, ripped, and stained clothes.“I’m a _mess.”_

“You look pretty good to me.”

Henry shook his head stubbornly, sure the compliment was based in pity.“I’m covered in grass and mud and sweat!And _blood!_ This is not typical, I assure you.Oh, man,” he said, running a hand through his hair and finding a stray leaf.“This is not how I wanted this to go at all.”

Noah cocked his head to the side, not unlike a confused puppy, and Henry’s heart quickened with the realization of what he’d just revealed.“How you wanted this to go?”

“I, uh, shit,” he stammered.He could play it off as not wanting to meet a cute boy in this state - not at all a lie - but he felt he owed Noah the truth.They couldn’t build a relationship on a base of lies.“Okay,” he said slowly.“Okay, so don’t get freaked out-“

“Always a calming start to a sentence.”

“-but I’ve seen you around campus for around two years now, and I’ve tried to talk to you at least, like, fifty times, but stuff keeps getting in the way.And I mean literal stuff, like the marching band parading down the sidewalk or a horde of escaped dogs tackling me to the ground.Not, like, anxiety or something.Anyways, no one knows who you are or what your name is, so I was seriously starting to wonder if you were actually a campus ghost.And now we’re here, actually finally _talking,_ and I look like I’ve just been on the losing end of a fight with a wood chipper, and I made you crash and get hurt and - and this just was not at all the first impression I wanted you to have.” 

Henry stood there, panting slightly from his rushed speech, heart hammering in his chest as he examined Noah’s expression for any sign of turning tail and running.

“Well,” Noah said slowly.“If it helps at all, this isn’t really my first impression of you.”

“What?”

Noah scratched his cheek just below the bandaid, averting his gaze to the sky.“So I’ve kind of seen you around campus, too?And I might have, uh, drawn you a few times?”

Henry blinked.Once.Twice.

“Drawn me?”

“You caught my attention and, well.You’re pretty.”

“Oh.”

Henry could feel his face heating up again, matching Noah’s cherry cheeks.

_He called me pretty._

“So, like,” Noah continued, pressing through the silence that Henry hadn’t realized had fallen, “you were giving a speech at a campus protest a while ago.You were standing on a table, holding a sign up and rousing the crowd, and you were just so - so _impassioned._ It was captivating - _you_ were captivating.I stopped and watched for a few minutes, and honestly I can’t remember what you were protesting, but I can’t get that moment out of my head.I’ve noticed you since then, like my eyes are always pulled to you when you’re around, if that makes sense.”He paused, waving his fingers vaguely in the air.“It feels like gravity.”

In a flash, Henry remembered a lecture from his freshman physics class - a miracle considering how hard he worked to repress any and all memories involving math.The professor had stated that all objects, no matter how small, had a gravitational force.Henry wondered if there was something to that, if he and Noah were actually being pulled together on a molecular level as well as a spiritual one.If their very atoms recognized something intrinsically welcoming in each other.Something familiar and safe and _necessary._

“I know I should have just talked to you,” Noah continued, “but there was always the chance that you wouldn’t feel the same way, the same pull.There was always the chance that everything was just in my head, and I just - it was easier to know you from a distance.Or to not know you at all, I guess.I’m just - I mess stuff up, and I didn’t want to mess this up.”

Henry wondered at the chances of two strangers orbiting each other for two years without actually meeting.Not just orbiting.Watching, calling, reaching for each other without managing to connect - until he’d fallen down a hill and gravity had finally pulled them together.

“Not that I don’t want to know you,” Noah said frantically, beautiful brown eyes growing wide.There were flecks of gold in them, sparkling in the early morning sun.“You’re, uh,” he gestured vaguely in a way that encompassed Henry’s entire body.“Yeah.I want to know you.I want to talk to you.But I’ve also drawn you like a billion times and it didn’t seem all that creepy at the time, but now that I’m actually meeting you it might be weird.Just.Needed you to know that.” 

He finally stammered to a stop, blushing and twisting his fingers together into intricate knots, and Henry found that he was at a loss for words.

“Oh,” he said dumbly.

“Please don’t be freaked out.”

“Freaked out?I’m _enamored.”_

Noah blinked at him, his mouth falling open just a little.“Oh.”

“If anyone should be freaked out, it’s you.I just admitted that I’ve been attempting to stalk you for two years, and here I am, throwing myself down a hill on a skateboard I don’t even know how to ride just because it might make you notice me.”

“I mean it worked,” Noah said.“It did very much work.”He frowned, puffing out his cheeks again in what Henry hoped was mock anger.“And you phrased it cuter than that before.I can make mine creepy too - I’ve posted sketches of you to Instagram without your knowledge or permission.There, how’s that?”

“Oh, shit,” Henry breathed.“Can I see them?Please tag me in those.”

“I’d need your username for that.”

Henry grinned, the perfect opening in front of him.“I can give it to you over lunch.”

“Is this a date?” Noah asked.

“Only if you want it to be.”

“Oh,” Noah said quietly, “I totally do.”

Henry nodded several times, completely at a loss of what to do next.He honestly hadn’t thought he’d get this far.Meeting, talking, flirting, and now Noah had actually said yes to a date.So many impossible steps, so many things to go wrong, so many things currently going right. Maybe Henry _was_ stuck in a coma fever dream.

If he was, he didn’t want to wake up any time soon.

“Good,” he said, nodding again.“This is going good.I have to change first and, like, make sure I don’t die of an infection or something.These cuts are pretty stingy and I don’t know if that’s normal,” he said, poking at a particularly offensive wound on his elbow.“I definitely mean to be forward when I ask this: do you want to come up to my room?”He jerked his thumb toward the top of the hill, which admittedly looked much smaller now that the adrenaline had worn off.“Upon second thought it might be smarter to go to the health clinic first.”

“It’s normal,” Noah said.“And I don’t mean to be…unforward? with this, but I’m real late for work.Worth it, don’t get me wrong, totally worth it, but I’d like to stay employed.Otherwise I’d totally be into playing nurse with you.”

“We’re unpacking that later,” Henry said, winking at Noah before he could lose the nerve.He dug his phone out of his pocket, blessedly unharmed after the fall, and held it out.“Here, type your number in.What’s your class schedule like?For lunch planning purposes.”

“Oh, I’m not in school,” he said, taking the phone from Henry.

“What?But you were in orientation with me two years ago!It was the beginning of all this,” Henry said, gesturing dramatically between them.“Don’t tell me you have a twin or something.”

“No, no twin,” Noah answered distractedly, focused on Henry’s phone.“I dropped out after a few months.I just live nearby, and cutting through campus is the fastest way to work.”

“Oh my God,” Henry said as everything clicking into place.Noah wasn’t a ghost, wasn’t a cryptid.He wasn’t even a simple recluse.He was just a very recognizable townie.“That explains so much.” 

It didn’t explain everything, of course.Henry still had a lot of questions about Noah’s various appearances throughout the years, but that could all wait until later.He had to save up some conversation starters for lunch, after all.And, hopefully, for future dates.

They had time.Against all odds, they had time.

“College isn’t my thing, no offense,” Noah said, breaking Henry out of his reverie.

“None taken.Skateboarding doesn’t appear to be my thing.”

“It’s a good look on you, though,” Noah said, grinning as he returned the phone. 

“It’s really not.”Henry glanced at the phone, seeing that Noah had entered his contact info under the name “Ghost Boy ;)”

“I beg to differ.”

“Then beg.”

Noah’s laugh was loud and sparkling, startling Henry into almost dropping his phone.“We’re unpacking that later, too,” Noah said, grinning wickedly.

There was a beat of silence, and Henry knew he should let Noah go, knew he shouldn’t potentially get him fired or reprimanded, but he just couldn’t quite bring himself to do it.This meeting was two years in the making, and while it had been above and beyond his wildest expectations so far, he didn’t want it to end.

Noah glanced around, obviously searching for his wayward skateboard.“What do you do?” Henry blurted out, knowing was being selfish with the question, with Noah’s time.Right then, he didn’t care, though.Anything to make the moment last.“Job-wise.”

Noah perked up, spotting the board a few dozen meters away, tipped against its side near a tree.“I work part-time at a few places,” he said, wandering over.His stride was loose and even, but thankfully unhurried.Maybe he didn’t want this to end so soon, either.“Food truck cook, stage hand, toy shop assistant.Whatever I can find that seems fun.”They reached his skateboard, and Noah held it up apologetically.“I _really_ got to go.I’m off at eleven-thirty.Meet back here then, and we’ll go from there?”

“I promise to be more presentable,” he said, looking dejectedly down at himself.He fingered a long slash down the side of his now-crusty shirt, face warming as he realized just how much skin he was showing.This was a third date level of undress, at least.Had Noah noticed?Of course he had.He was cute, not blind.

Maybe that’s why this had all gone so well.

“I don’t,” Noah said, grinning.“All my clothes are terrible, even my dating ones.”

“It is a date, then?”

“For sure.”Noah gracefully jumped onto his board, rolling down the sidewalk away from him.Effortlessly, he pivoted, skating backward as he waved.“Bye, Henry!”

Henry raised his arm to the sky, for once thanking fate rather than cursing it.“See you later, Noah!”

“Not if I see you first!”


End file.
